Kimberley Jones’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” Leads Astray

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Kimberley Jones’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” has a heartbeat, just no heart. There may be a message here, but good luck finding it among the sea of indecisive statements and overly embellished prose.

Tracking the flow of this piece is a nightmare. There is virtually no discerning where Jones is going with any of her assertions, let alone where she stands. What it amounts to is a convoluted, confusing diatribe of misnomers and misdirection.

To say this work has no pulse would be going too far. In fact it has multiple pulses. And they collide in a tangled mess of discord. Layering one’s work with sub-themes can enhance its emotional impact when used properly. However, used haphazardly, as the author has done here, produces nothing more than sound pollution.

It’s unclear what the author’s ultimate take on his subject is. Is it supportive or dismissive? Both… and neither. It praises certain dimensions of the theme, while condemning others. And some aspects, she simply takes pity on. But in the end, it’s unclear which direction she leans, which in turn leaves the audience directionless.

Without a sure-footed guide to lead one in the right direction, the reader is lost. As such, consider Jones a broken compass in a room full of magnets.